1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connector disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-246107 includes a connector housing having a plurality of terminal accommodating portions and terminal fittings to be inserted into the terminal accommodating portions. The terminal fitting is L-shaped as a whole and includes a terminal main body having a tongue piece capable of resiliently contacting a mating male tab and arranged substantially along a front-back direction, and a wire fixing portion arranged to stand upward from the rear end of the terminal main body and to be crimped and connected to an end part of a wire.
Further, the connector includes a retainer to be mounted into the connector housing to cover the wire fixing portions from behind with the terminal main bodies inserted in the terminal accommodating portions. The terminal fittings are retained and held in the terminal accommodating portions by the retainer. According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-246107, since the wires connected to the terminal fittings are pulled out in a direction intersecting with the front-back direction, a space behind the connector can be effectively utilized.
Further, a connector disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-75543 includes a louver terminal having a pair of annular front and rear ring portions and a plurality of resilient strip portions extending in a front-back direction and linking the both ring portions, a housing main body having a terminal accommodating portion into which the louver terminal is to be fitted, and an auxiliary housing having a fitting portion fittable into the terminal accommodating portion from behind and to be press-fitted and held into the housing main body. When the connector is connected to a mating connector, a terminal accommodating tube of the mating connector is inserted into the terminal accommodating tube from front, a shield shell covering the outer surface of the terminal accommodating portion is inserted into the louver terminal and each resilient strip portion of the louver terminal is resiliently pressed against the shield shell to be electrically connected.
By applying the technique of the louver terminal disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-75543 to the terminal fitting disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-246107, a terminal fitting can be configured which includes a terminal main body having annular ring portions and a wire fixing portion bent and integrally connected to the rear end of the terminal main body. However, since a structure for preventing a backward detachment of the terminal fitting (equivalent to the retainer in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-246107 and the auxiliary housing in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-75543) is provided separately from a structure for holding the terminal fitting (equivalent to the connector housing in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-246107 and the terminal accommodating portion in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-75543) in both Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-246107 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-75543, there is a problem that the number of components increases and component management and the like are cumbersome.
The present invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to reduce the number of components in a connector with a terminal fitting having an annular portion and to be connected to a wire.